Ever since New York state’s presidential primary in April, officials from the city Board of Elections have been trying to explain what led to two illegal voter purges that removed more than 120,000 voters from the rolls. Executive Director Michael Ryan has apologized publicly, but he has also tried to debunk claims that any specific group of voters was unduly affected by the purge. Testifying under oath at a City Council hearing last month, Ryan said that “a broad cross-section of voters [was] removed from the voter rolls.” But a WNYC analysis found something very different.
Under the state Freedom of Information Law, WNYC obtained the list of every voter the board says was removed from the books in a major purge over two days last summer. When mapped by election district, the analysis shows that Hispanic voters were disproportionately purged from the rolls when compared with all other groups.
More broadly, board officials have said repeatedly that the purges were a mistake. The two top clerks at the Brooklyn office have been suspended without pay since shortly after the primary. Ryan announced earlier this month that the board would return all the purged voters to the rolls in time for Tuesday’s congressional primary.
Full Article: Latino Voters Hit Hardest By Brooklyn Voter Purge : NPR.